Vikram Karve - Books, Fiction, Musings, Writing

The writing of Vikram Karve. Book Reviews of books which I liked, my creative writing, fiction short stories, musings and some foodie writing on good food and cuisine, articles on management and philosophy.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

You can hang out with your fellow retiree “oldie-goldies” and make your life miserable in the company of pessimistic, gloomy, cynical old-fogies who keep living in the past, carping and complaining about the present, and speculating and worrying about the future.

In short you can succumb to what I call the“Auld Lang Syne”complex. This is guaranteed to make you feel older than your chronological age.

The other choice is to spend your time in the company of lively enthusiastic youngsters who have a zest for life. This is what I prefer to do, for it makes me feel young and cheerful.

That’s why I decided to attend and actively participate in the Pune Bloggers Meet the moment I came to know about it on the IndiBlogger IndiVine.

Chronologically I may have been the oldest participant, but those present will agree with me, that I am quite young at heart, and in enthusiasm and passion, I am as young as, or maybe, even “younger” than many who are half my age.

Though I have been blogging for around 9 years, this was my second Bloggers Meet.

Around 5 years ago (on 16 June 2007) I attendedBlogCampPuneat SCIT in theInfoTechParkin Hinjewadi. It was a huge sponsored affair and the focus was more on the business opportunities from Blogging, rather than the creative aspects.

Though they called it an “unconference”, the proceedings were quite structured and the event was dominated by the marketing guys and the IT Nerds – the Bloggers hardly had any say. However, Blogging was still in its nascent stage inIndia, and as a budding blogger, thisBLOG CAMPwas quite an informative and instructive experience and I wrote a blog post about it the next day:

Though we got plenty to eat and lots of freebies, it was like attending a trade show or a seminar. I hardly got to personally interact with fellow bloggers and though I was educated about various aspects of blogging, especially from the technical and commercial points of view, there was nothing much for a simple blogger like me who blogged to showcase my creative writing and who wasn’t much interested in the business opportunities from blogging.

In contrast, the Pune Bloggers Meet (on 05 May 2012) which was more of a social get-together of the IndiBlogger Members of Pune, where the focus was on social interaction, fellowship and kinship, and the friendly informal atmosphere facilitated the formation of creative personal relationships between fellow Bloggers from Pune’s Blogging Community.

I am sure you have heard the famous Zen Story EMPTY YOUR CUP.

A university Professor went to visit a famous Zen Master. The Professor wanted to learn about Zen.

The Zen Master served Tea.

While the Zen Master quietly served tea, the Professor talked about Zen.

The Master poured the visitor's cup full to the brim, and then kept on pouring.

The Professor watched the overflowing cup and soon he could no longer restrain himself and so the Professor blurted out to the Zen Master, “Please stop pouring the tea. The cup is overfull. No more tea will go in.”

“You are like this cup, full of your own opinions and beliefs,” the Zen Master said, “How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup.”

The moral of the story is that even if you are an experienced veteran, you must get rid the“Been There, Done That”mentality and keep your mind open to receiving new ideas. That is why I always “empty my cup” whenever I want to learn something. Though I am quite an experienced blogger I made sure that I emptied my “cup” before I went to the Bloggers Meet and this strategy paid me handsome dividends as it seamlessly enabled me to learn so many new things about blogging.

The Pune Bloggers Meet was scheduled to start at 11 AM on Saturday the 5th of May 2012 at RajLaxmi Sabhagruha, Kothrud, Pune. As per my habit, ingrained during my Navy days, I reached the venue well before time, at 10:45 AM, and was probably the first to reach, but soon Bloggers started trickling in, and in due course soon there was enough quorum start the meet.

In today’s parlance, it was an “awesome” event and the credit for this successful meet must go to the organizer Animesh Mishra and his volunteer colleagues, to IndiBlogger whose IndiBiker Vineet Rajan came all the way from Mumbai to attend, and, of course, to all the Bloggers from Pune who participated.

Well, it is past midnight, I am feeling sleepy now, so I will tell you more about what happened at the meet in Part 2 …

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Long back, maybe almost fifteen years ago, I visited Mussoorie and during one of my long walks, probably on Camel’s Back Road or maybe near Lal Tibba in Landour, I saw some words inscribed on a bench, a truism that has had a profound impact on me ever since.

I will never forget those interesting words written in Hindi on a bench in Mussoorie:

अगरआपशांतिचाहतेहोतोपहेलेशांतरहेनासीखो

Agar Aap Shanti Chahate Ho To Pehele Shaant Rehena Seekho

Roughly translated this means:

IF YOU DESIRE PEACE THEN FIRST LEARN TO REMAIN PEACEFUL

Of course the word शांत(shaant) also means SILENT – yes, SILENCE is the sine qua non for Peacefulness.

There is too much “noise” in our lives – Physical Noise, Information Overload Noise, Emotional Noise – internal noise and external noise – noise around you and noise within you – all sorts of noise. Noise hassles you and is the biggest impediment to attaining peacefulness. The first step to inner peace is to get rid of all that noise around you and within you. Go to a quiet place where there is minimal external noise, switch off your noise-making gadgets like cellphones, TV etc. Sit silently in solitude, close your eyes and see how your inner silence dissolves the noise within you and you will experience inner peace and you will be in harmony with yourself.

That’s what I did this morning. I sat in silence in the spacious airy balcony of my ninth floor flat in Wakad, absorbed the tranquil scenic view of the placid waters of the Mula River quietly flowing below, the peaceful verdant hills in the distance, the still atmosphere, the pure fresh air, and I felt a halo of soothing serenity permeate me. Then I closed my eyes and let my silence dissolve the internal noise in my mind and body and now I am experiencing inner peace and I am in harmony with myself.

I make love to a beautiful woman on Sunday morning – yes, I make love to her and she makes love to me.

Here is how we make love.

Tell me, what does a beautiful woman do when a handsome young man looks at her in an insistent, lingering sort of way, which is worth a hundred compliments?

I’ll tell you what she does.

First, she realizes I am looking at her, then she accepts being looked at and finally she begins to look at me in return.

Suddenly her eyes become hard and she grills me with a stern stare that makes me uncomfortable.

Scared and discomfited, I quickly avert my eyes and try to disappear into the crowd. I feel ashamed of having eyed her so blatantly.

‘What will she think of me?’ I wonder.

But soon, by instinct and almost against my will, my eyes begin searching, trying to find her again.

Ah, there she is. She stands at the fruit-stall, buying fruit.

She is an exquisite beauty – tall, fair and freshly bathed, her luxuriant black hair flows down her back, her sharp features accentuated by the morning sun, her nose slightly turned up, so slender and transparent, as though accustomed to smelling nothing but perfumes.

I am mesmerized.

Never before had anyone evoked such a delightful tremor of thrilling sensation in me.

An unknown force propels me towards the fruit-stall. I stand near her and made pretence of choosing a papaya, trying to look at her with sidelong glances when I think she isn’t noticing.

She notices.

She looks at me.

Her eyes are extremely beautiful – enormous, dark, expressive.

Suddenly her eyes began to dance, and seeing the genuine admiration in my eyes, she gives me smile so captivating that I experience a delightful twinge in my heart.

She selects a papaya and extends her hands to give it to me.

Our fingers touch.

The feeling is electric.

It is sheer ecstasy.

I feel so good that I wish time would stand still.

I can’t begin to describe the sensation I feel deep within me.

I try to smile.

She communicates an unspoken good-bye with her eyes and briskly walks away.

Three months have passed. She has never misses her Sunday morning love date with me, same time, same place, every Sunday – at precisely Seven o’clock in the morning.

But, my dear Reader, do you know that not a word has been exchanged between us.

We just make love every Sunday morning using the language of our eyes and part with an unspoken good-bye.

Once I was slightly late for our rendezvous.

I could see her eyes desperately searching for me.

And when her eyes found me, her eyes danced with delight, and began making love to my eyes.

Tell me, is there any love making that can surpass our fascinating alluring love making?

It feels like the supreme bliss of non-alcoholic intoxication.

Should I speak to her?

I do not know.

Why doesn’t she speak to me?

I do not know.

Does one have to speak to express love?

Are words from the mouth the only way to communicate love?

Maybe we both want our beautiful romance to remain this way.

Our silent love making with our eyes – so lovely, so esoteric, so exquisite, so pristine, so divine, so fragile, so delicate, so sensitive, so delicately poised.

Just one word would spoil everything, destroy our enthralling state of trancelike bliss, bring everything crashing down from supreme ecstasy to harsh ground reality.

I think it’s best to let our exquisite Sunday morning love making go on for ever and ever, till eternity.

What do you feel, Dear Reader?

How long should we go making love like this?

Tell me, should I make a move, talk to her, break the spell...?

Tell me, My Dear Reader...Should I tell her...?

I’ll do exactly as you say.

Till then, I will make love to the beautiful woman every Sunday morning – yes, I will make love to her with my eyes only.

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books:COCKTAILa collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) andAPPETITE FOR A STROLLa book of Foodie Adventures(2008) and he is currently working on his novel. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 14 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

About Me

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures(2008) and is currently working on his novel. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 14 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts